


Truths

by AlphaKantSpell



Series: The Incomplete Guide to Drawf/Elf Relations [3]
Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Prostitution, happy quiet mornings with dark subjects
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-02
Updated: 2013-07-02
Packaged: 2017-12-16 21:30:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/866826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlphaKantSpell/pseuds/AlphaKantSpell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On a quiet morning during a lull between fighting the Blight, Zevran's Warden asks about his experiences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Truths

**Author's Note:**

> See notes at the end.

In a rare moment of peace where no darkspawn or bandits or monsters of any kind demanded their immediate attention, Zevran and Ninette lounged in bed together clothed in naught but morning’s light and cream textured sheets. The Warden traced surprisingly familiar patterns into his chest (runes perhaps; her race’s immunity to magic and Zevran’s own peace weary mind made it hard to tell). Dexterous fingers massaged and teased flesh on her back, content to wander from Ninette’s sizeable rump and back. She sighed a delirious breath of bliss and snuggled onto her nest on his chest. Zevran kissed her forehead, craving contact with his current lover as much as she craved his. He had always been a tactile creature; this he assured when they spoke of whom seduced whom. 

“Tell me about your first time,” Ninette said, voice smoky and sensual without trying to be. It hinted at her age (older than him) and too many nights close to a fire but scratched at Zevran’s nerves in the most delicious way like he were a cat. He supposed he was. 

“Hmm? You are being to vague, mi Tejón. Elaborate, if you please.” 

“Tell me about your first time making love,” she giggled into his collarbone. It felt nice to have her chuckling weight above him, heavy enough to be a man but most assuredly a woman. Oh yes. Now if only he could convince her into a dress. 

Impatient and crafty, Ninette pinched near his nipple and got Zevran to jump into a kiss. Such an aggressive woman, though he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“Abuse me as much as you want, I am trained never to talk.” 

“Is that a challenge?” They exchanged another biting kiss laced more with sleepy passion than actual aggression. Before he could retort she cheated and blew on his ear, goose-bumps and another part of his anatomy jumping to attention. He grunted and she smirked. 

“Warden you don’t play fair. I’ll make a Crow out of you yet. What would Alistair say?” 

“Alistair isn’t here now.” A kiss to his throat and a nail traced around his nipple. Zevran felt himself hardening in more than one place; couldn’t complain. He bucked against her in one playful motion. “Now you first.” 

Zevran bit a sigh, erection painfully deflated at her continued curiosity. If she kept asking questions he wouldn’t be surprised if his member retreated into his body completely. That would be a sight – albeit an embarrassing and uncomfortable one. Ninette noticed his body’s betrayal and raised an eyebrow. 

“How about I tell you mine and you tell me yours? If you still don’t want to you can back out.” 

Words as kind as manipulative. After hearing her story he’d be guilted into sharing his. She spoke like a true politician. It was a shame Orzammar threw her out. With someone like her at their command Ninette would have turned the dwarf city into a nation to be reckoned with. For his own selfishness he was glad she had been exiled. Not only would he be back in Antiva (Alistair would never have survived Zevran’s ambush without Ninette) but he’d be departed one of the best views in all Ferelden. Of this he was sure. 

“We will see. It is not a pleasant story, my first time. But I will tell you if my Warden shares first.” 

She kissed his chin before pulling away, eyes bright and thoughtful. It was a nice change from her usual stoic expression. He could almost see the flecks of brass in her eyes moving like gears like a clock. Zevran felt very silly, like a lovesick couple sharing secrets. They were not lovesick, only partners on and off bed. But he already told Ninette about his greatest mistake and the Aeducan hadn’t turned from him so one more dirty truth shouldn’t be so bad. 

“From the moment I saw Gorim I knew I’d marry him,” she began. 

“First love then?”

“No, my older brother Trian was my first love.” At Zevran’s expression she chuckled. “In dwarf society we’re taught to seek out the strongest partner of our social group; for me that was Trian. I think all little sisters plan on marring their big brother at one point or another. They’re strong and dependable and a girl loves that in a man.” 

“My lady is into incest, I see? In that case I can pretend to be your older sibling,” Zevran smirked. Ninette gave him a playful shove. “Alistair is your brother in Grey, perhaps he should join us.”

“I’m hurt, here I am bearing my soul to you and all you can think of is dragging poor Alistair into a threesome.” He knew she joked but Zevran kissed her in a soothing brush of lips all the same. He soothed a small tension spot on an eyebrow and nuzzled against her forehead. 

“Threesomes are good.” 

“I’ll take your word for that. I’d be too jealous to share you.” 

“Too normal I think. But be as jealous as you wish.” His ego could certainly handle it. They kissed again, Ninette’s fingers dragging through his locks (but careful not to touch his ear). “So this Gorim fellow. . .” 

“Yes, when I officially became a woman – I think fourteen by above ground time – Father decided my role to the family was to become a Commander. Trian would inherit the throne and I would be his army. In a way that’s sort of marriage. Heh. Gorim came from a line of Warriors – he was bred to be my right hand. Gorim’s expression when he finally met me; it was like I was his reason for breathing. It was quite the complement. Although his bread was still growing in he still looked handsome.” 

Zevran touched his own hairless chin in a somewhat self-conscious grimace. Ninette took a moment to kiss his beardless skin, expressing without words how little that mattered to her now. 

“I took to him immediately. You know how girls are with their fantasies. Gorim was strong and courageous. He knew when to remind me of what’s expected of royalty and when to let me have fun. We’d sneak down to the aquifer but Gorim made sure I got back to the palace in time for dinner with none the wiser. On days when training was really bad he’d get me salt taffy.” 

“Seem’s quite the man,” Zevran mused. Ninette nodded, eyes still distant. Zevran traced his fingers over the tattoos to her face, following the basket weave pattern from one side to the other. Dwarf tattoos were strange, blocky like their people.

“In another year by your time I got him to bed me. Well, I pulled him into a cupboard and mauled him but Gorim was more than happy to comply.” Her lips mused into a coy grin. “Looking back on it now it was terrible – we were both so inexperienced and not to mention jammed into a cupboard that makes this bed feel like a lake.”

“Good to know you can fit into a tight space,” Zevran interjected with an outrageous grin. “With my bendy bones and your compact size we’ll fit into all sorts of creative wonders.” 

She laughed and he winked. Ninette shook her head, leaving that conversation off for another day. “In spite of our minor inconveniences at the time I was convinced Gorim was the best man alive. No darkspawn would stand a chance against our might and that of the Aeducan’s. Silly.” 

“If I may ask, what happened to this Gorim? Are you a spoken for woman or. . ?” 

Ninette thought for a moment. Zevran asked the question in harmless curiosity but now he worried. It was trouble getting involved with taken women, their partners often felt the need to lay claim to both their beloved and everything connected to her.   
“I’m not sure. He was exiled with me but Gorim had a plan. He said to meet in Denerim. I don’t know if he’s alive or even interested in me anymore. In any case I am my own woman.” She kissed Zevran’s throat and moved a devious hand to his ear. The Antivan shivered at contact despite their bed’s warmth. “If I want to sleep with a man I’ll sleep with him. No one will command me otherwise.” 

“Is that why you spent your first intimacy within a cupboard?” His remark was met with a quick smack to his pecks, startling a laugh from him. 

“You have me there. Trian and Father didn’t approve of my ‘cesspool scrapings’; what they kindly referred to lower class men I slept with. It wasn’t like I molested ‘Brands’ on the street, and no one but Trian ranks higher than second child of the King. It never stopped Bhelen from picking up Dustown whores. Even Father allowed Noble Hunters into his bedchambers from time to time. So yes, I was discreet about my romps.” 

“I take it they would not approve of a whore’s son, yes?” 

She grunted in outrage, eyes almost as fiery as her hair. Then the expression was gone and replaced with her impassive stare. “They can suck a nug for all I care.” 

Zevran cackled at her words and bent for a longer kiss. “Gracias mi señora,” he breathed into her skin. Ninette made a tiny sound, one he enthusiastically searched to make again. Her skin pebbled under his touch and his member pressed against her hip like a hot brand.

“Wait, you haven’t told me your side,” Ninette said into the skin of his neck. Zevran huffed and angry sigh, mood again flattened by her questions.

“It is not a happy tale of youth and exploration. Can I not change your mind? Why must we dig up old ghosts?” 

A frown slid across her lips but Ninette nodded. “If it’s too much you don’t have to tell me.” Zevran made a huff of indignation and wounded pride. 

“The Crows favored me for my natural talents and natural beauty. As I have said before elves are picked by the Crows because humans think they are attractive. As such I was expected to be well versed in killing and seduction. ‘Utilizar cualquier medio necesario’, they drilled into our heads. ‘Use any means necessary’,” he said this part with a stubborn frown, like recalling the expression another person made. “After I graduated the first stage of training for assassination I was taught seduction. At the end of that session began my education in sex. All the recruits were gathered into a single room, all of us hardly out of childhood.”

As he spoke Zevran’s tone lost its luster till his voice little more than a murmur. His sudden lack in confidence frightened Ninette far more than his tale. They sat apart from each other, the scant inches between felt like a canyon. She had to lean closer to hear him though they sat near face to face. 

“I, being the top of my class was chosen first. Our instructor was kind, he’d been through the same class as a recruit and taught it to others when asked. He looked old to me, like a withered man counting down his years. Much later I learned only teenagers are chosen for teaching new recruits about lovemaking – something to make us all feel like we hadn’t insulted the Chantry so much.”

Zevran’s laugh was bitter. It made Ninette wince. 

“So he instructed me to strip as taught in our seduction classes. Flesh is something you grow accustomed to when born in a whorehouse; displaying it more so. I’d seen the whores perform enough times to know what was to happen next. He stopped me from time to time to critique or explain something to other recruits. He was hard but not cruel. When I stood bare to recruits he instructed the others on what parts of the body did which and how to exploit erogenous zones. I can still remember his words, ‘Elves have cocks for ears, touch them as you would a penis’.” 

Ninette’s hands pinned to her sides like they were magnetized. Zevran noted the reaction but didn’t stop. Being trained as a Crow he saw tasks through to the end (Warden’s assassination aside). 

“He prepped me as proper and was gentle enough. The whole while he spoke to the other recruits, showed how to touch and keep a clear head for either information or an attack. When he finished I was excused to the back of the room and he began working on the other recruits, just as with any other training. Later in the same day we were taught the proper techniques of toping, I again used as the first choice. It was a . . . humbling experience.” 

He finished, neither partner looking at the other. Morning’s warmth earlier could have existed years ago for how cold Ninette felt. She looked back the Zevran, the Antivan gauging her expression. She didn’t know if he’d told this to anyone else. She didn’t know how much of it was a lie, a cover up of something much more sinister. She didn’t understand how he’d come to use sex so casually from something like that; perhaps as a man it wasn’t as traumatic as it sounded. Perhaps as a child he sprang back from it without any shame. She did know her gut squirmed like a bag of snakes and that her next words would affect Zevran on a deeper level than he’d ever admit. 

“Thank you,” she started. Her hand inched toward his shoulder in a dwarfish embrace for brothers in arms. Zevran was unfamiliar with the gesture but guessed its meaning well enough. “I think I understand you a little better, and for that I’m glad.” 

He matched her eyes, honey colored and colder than she remembered them being. Zevran hid in his jokes and suggestions. Robbed of them now he floundered. 

“Do not pity me,” he warned. 

“I don’t. Not unless you pity an exiled princess blindsided by her little brother.” 

“Never.” 

“Never it is, then.” 

Zevran made an expression Ninette didn’t understand, something that looked sad and happy at once. Dwarves were more straightforward and his Antivan subtleties lost her at times. He inched past the canyon that formed between them during his talk and brushed his side against hers. Zevran moved his head to rest with Ninette’s under his chin, hands crossing to hold hers in a surprising display of intimacy neither expected. He pulled back just as quick but Ninette fished his hand back and made a pleased sound. 

They laid together in an unscheduled silence for another half hour before her Mabari whined at the door for affection. He howled and woke the rest of the group, Morrigan complaining loudly at the dog as Leliana sang a morning’s song. Alistair fumbled out of his room, shouting as he ran down the corridor for Wynne to fix his socks (which he’d managed to ruin in the night). Ninette laughed and Zevran found himself unable to stop. Just like that their quiet sunrise together ended and another day fighting the Blight began.

**Author's Note:**

> Teen sex, and pedophilia. If you have problems with these I apologize and suggest moving onto another chapter. In no way am I encouraging either underage sex or pedophilia, in fact I believe this is a case against it.


End file.
